The invention relates to an input device with a touch sensitive input surface.
Input devices with touch sensitive input surfaces are being increasingly used in electronic equipment. Examples of this are portable media playback devices, mobile telephones etc. In addition, such input devices with a touch sensitive input surface are also used as user interfaces in motor vehicles. By the touch sensitive input surface, the user can carry out operating inputs, e.g. he can select a menu item from a menu with a plurality of selection options and thereby trigger a defined action. The input process takes place thereby in the simplest case by the user tapping the input surface with a finger; in addition he can carry out a sliding movement on the input surface with a finger in order to trigger a defined action. The user thus carries out a defined pattern of movement, wherein a special meaning or function is associated with a pattern of movement.
Conventional touch sensitive input surfaces comprise sensors, e.g. capacitive sensors, which are capable of detecting the position of an object in contact with the input surface. The sensor or the sensors can be of a matrix form here, so that the coordinates of the current position of the object can be obtained as sensor data. The object is e.g. a finger of a user touching the input surface. Said sensor data can either be processed directly in the input device or in an evaluation device connected thereto, for which the input device comprises an interface via which it is connected to another device.
A generic input device is known from US 2011/0141052 A1. The input device comprises a touch sensitive input surface, force sensors, which produce a corresponding signal in the event of an operation, being provided for detecting a user input. The input device is capable of producing haptically detectable feedback for the user.
An input device is known from US 2007/0057927 A1, especially for a vehicle, with a touch sensitive input surface and with an actuator that can displace the touch sensitive input surface, which is in the form of a touch screen, reciprocally along an axis.
An input device with haptically detectable feedback and a suitable actuator is known from WO 2010/055234 A1.
Similarly, WO 2010/046494 A1 also discloses an input device with haptic feedback. In the event of a user input the input surface is moved by an actuator comprising an electromagnet.
A touch sensitive input surface is known from DE 10 2008 008 921 A1, with which besides detecting the position of the object touching the input surface, the triggering of a switch contact can also be provided. For this a switch is disposed under the touch sensitive input surface so that a switching process is triggered if the user exerts a sufficiently strong perpendicular force on the input surface, which thereby carries out a tilting movement. The input surface can comprise a device for producing haptically detectable feedback, which can take place as a vibration or by “clicking”. By said haptically detectable feedback it is conveyed to the user that an input process has taken place.
However, investigations have shown that input devices in which the input surface is tapped are not optimal, because the perception of an unsteady device is conveyed to the user.